On August 13, 2015, Dr. Andrzej Krztoń, Eng., passed away—a wonderful man and a highly regarded scientist. He was a researcher at the Center of Polymer and Carbon Materials of the Polish Academy of Sciences. He was a loving husband, father, and grandfather.

Dr. Andrzej Krztoń, Eng., was born on December 5, 1951, in Siemianowice Śląskie. In 1975, he graduated from the Faculty of Technology and Chemical Engineering at the Silesian University of Technology in Gliwice, earning a master’s degree in engineering with a focus on basic organic synthesis. After graduation, he worked, among other places, at the Mining Rubber Works in Bytom and at the Institute of Chemical Coal Processing in Zabrze. In 1987, he began working at the Institute of Coal Chemistry of the Polish Academy of Sciences in Gliwice, where he served as head of the Analytical Laboratory until 1990 and directed the work of the Laboratory of Automated Methods of Coal Analysis until 1992. Dr. Andrzej Krztoń’s research interests during his early years at the Institute of Coal Chemistry focused on the properties of coal tar, which he studied in collaboration with scientists from the former Soviet Union, Spain, and France. This research culminated in his doctoral dissertation, which he defended in 2001 at the Faculty of Chemistry of the Wrocław University of Technology. In the following years, Dr. Krztoń led research on the catalytic removal of contaminants generated during coal processing.

Over the course of thirty years of academic work, Dr. Krztoń, Ph.D., Eng., has conducted research as part of ten projects—mostly international—and his body of work includes several dozen publications that represent an undeniable contribution to the development of the science of coal-based materials and knowledge of catalytic processes in environmental protection.

Throughout his professional career, Dr. Krztoń, Ph.D., Eng., maintained close collaboration with French research centers, which involved frequent research and teaching stays at the Universities of Metz and Paris. For 10 years, until 2012, Dr. Andrzej Krztoń, Ph.D., served with full dedication as the coordinator of Polish-French cooperation and the International Research Group. The group’s annual meetings were attended by a large number of scientists from Europe, Asia, and South America. The meetings were intended not only to present the results of research conducted between Polish and foreign research centers and to exchange ideas, but also to bring together research groups from different countries and to promote young scientists.

For his many years of dedication to fostering scientific cooperation between Poland and France, Dr. Andrzej Krztoń, Ph.D., was recognized by the Minister of Education of the French Republic and was awarded the Order of the Academic Palms in 2014.
Dr. Andrzej Krztoń’s vast knowledge, his enthusiasm, and his exceptional organizational skills were always highly valued by his colleagues and members of the International Research Group.
Dr. Andrzej Krztoń, Ph.D., Eng., was a much-loved figure in the scientific community, above all for his courtesy, kindness, openness, and great sense of humor. We will miss all of these qualities dearly.

The staff of the Center of Polymer and Carbon Materials, Polish Academy of Sciences